I think this is a case for photoshopping out the ugly power pole and lines. They really detracts from te image of the beautiful building.

That, or find a better place to shoot from. Eyeballing it, the sidewalk with a TS-E 17 would do the trick -- and probably make the building look that much more impressive in the process.

Also, unless I'm mistraken, color would add considerably to this image. There are times for black and white, but I don't think this is one of them.

Cheers,

b&

Its just a difficult building to photograph. That power pole is close in front of the building. Then, if you get closer, the trees in front would block even more than they do now. I do not see a easy way to photoshop them out, presumably, there are windows behind them. A person would have to be very skilled to photograph the windows separately, adjust their perspective, and place them just right. Getting rid of the power poles is easy.

Hate to say this but for me there's little excitement in this picture. The clock, which is the point of main attention is exactly in the middle of the photo. A different composition could fix that. I guess this illustrates why T&S is not for me - I like some dramatically sloping lines, even a little degree of distortion to emphasise grandeur... and the b&w makes it bland. Just my humble opinion

Then, if you get closer, the trees in front would block even more than they do now.

Actually, I was thinking of going just adjacent to the trees. Either park the tripod right in the middle of the front gate for a face-on shot (presumably with both horizontal and vertical shifts for composition and perspective), or between or to the right of the trees (if that wall facing the courtyard needed to be in the shot).

Also, since the clock shows that it's about 10:50, that means that the church is on the east side of the street and the camera is basically pointing northeast. And it's in Italy, the heart of the Mediterranean. In other words, this church is practically on its knees begging for its portrait to be taken in the last rays of the setting Sun, and not in harsh midday light.

Yes...that would be my plan. Golden hour, TS-E 17, portrait orientation, just inside the fence between those two trees, focal plane square to the front entrance and whatever movements were necessary for composition. And I'd do whatever I could to throw a lot of light from the inside on the window...have them turn on the interior lights, radio flash triggers with superlative range, whatever.

I like the view he shows, because I can see the side of the building and a roofline. Getting close, say 20 ft away would likely only show part of the building with a 17mm. Maybe a 8mm FE could get it in.

Of course, its hard to guess the distance, but those trees are close in.

First of all I am a documentary type photographer. My main goal is not to necessarily show everything at its 'best'. thus for me the telephone poles are important and if you look at most of my documentary images lines and poles are part of my way of seeing. In my day job, as an architectural and interior photographer, I would look at this building from a totally different point of view of course...

I include a colour version here with my standard post processing of reduced saturation and pale blue skies.

Just a note, this building is not in Italy but in the Karoo area of South Africa...a very dry and hot region.

Re the composition of the tower in the center of the image...well composition and point of view is very subjective, and I believe there are no right and wrongs, but yes I do tend to put things in the middle...

But thanks again because its only through comments like these that I can look at my images through someone else's eyes.

.You have succeeded in tapping directly into my infuriation with utility poles, street signs, etc. I've been taking pictures of churches for 20 years, and it's almost impossible to ever find a clean shot. Always, there's one of those damn things in the way! And the B&W seems to accentuate it in this case.

.You have succeeded in tapping directly into my infuriation with utility poles, street signs, etc. I've been taking pictures of churches for 20 years, and it's almost impossible to ever find a clean shot. Always, there's one of those damn things in the way! And the B&W seems to accentuate it in this case.

So, from that perspective, it works.

Thanks for posting.

The power lines are essential here, they feed power to the church as well so why hide that? It's part of the story... I took the liberty to do a little cropping here, I prefer this type of composition

thanks Andy. the 17mm is on my wishlist! I have just ordered a mamiya to eos adapter so that I can use my 50mm mamiya shift with my 5d2...should be quite interesting to see how the lens performs on 35mm...